Leadership is needed to return the health system to its past greatness. The time has come for Netanyahu to face up to this responsibility.

It was a dubious honor. The Health Ministry was the single most mentioned of all
government offices in the latest State Comptroller’s Report. Over two-thirds of
the report was devoted solely to this ministry’s many shortcomings. As The
Jerusalem Post’s health and science editor Judy Siegel pointed out, never before
in recent memory has a State Comptroller’s Report devoted so many pages of
criticism to the Health Ministry.Though it is difficult to generalize,
many of the faults the state comptroller raised seem to have stemmed from the
inherent conflict of interests in a ministry that runs state hospitals and
clinics while at the same time being responsible for licensing and supervising
both public and private healthcare. This conflict of interests creates untenable
situations in which the ministry is tempted to work in direct contradiction to
citizens’ express medical needs.